Have you ever noticed how insincere we are when we pray? Just today I was thinking about prayer and I thought of praying over a meal. Then the thought came to my mind, "I wonder just how often we truly are thankful for our food, and how many times we just say that we are." It's sad that this should even be an issue, yet it is. We have made prayer so mechanical. I see it in my own prayer life. Certain things I always say in my prayers have become empty words, I pray sometimes, only because I have to. Then when I do open up my heart to God and really pour out my thoughts to Him, I think "Wow, that was amazing!" But shouldn't it always be as such? Shouldn't we open up our heart to God every day? It's no wonder our churches are full of weak Christians, they have no connection with the Father.

I believe very firmly that prayer is for your benefit, not God's! Why would God need us to talk to him? He already knows our thoughts. If pray, then, is for our own benefit, the only person we're hurting through insincere prayer is ourselves. Are we really so petty? Have we become so selfish as to hurt ourselves because we don't want to put forth the effort to talk sincerely with God? It is so sad to me that so many Christians have so little love for their Saviour as to spend so little time with Him! What is the purpose of prayer, if not to express your love and trust for God. We say that prayer, as it pertains to salvation, is simply an outward expression of the heart. Does not the same hold true for your Christian life? We need to check our heart and ask ourselves, "Why are my prayers so empty and insincere?"